Chapter LXXXVII.

Thinking that Porthos will be at last a Baron, and D’Artagnan a Captain.

At the expiration of ten minutes Aramis arrived, accompanied by Grimaud

and eight or ten followers. He was excessively delighted and threw

himself into his friends’ arms.

“You are free, my brothers! free without my aid! and I shall have

succeeded in doing nothing for you in spite of all my efforts.”

“Do not be unhappy, dear friend, on that account; if you have done

nothing as yet, you will do something soon,” replied Athos.

“I had well concerted my plans,” pursued Aramis; “the coadjutor gave me

sixty men; twenty guard the walls of the park, twenty the road from

Rueil to Saint Germain, twenty are dispersed in the woods. Thus I was

able, thanks to the strategic disposition of my forces, to intercept

two couriers from Mazarin to the queen.”

Mazarin listened intently.

“But,” said D’Artagnan, “I trust that you honorably sent them back to

monsieur le cardinal!”

“Ah, yes!” said Aramis, “toward him I should be very likely to practice

such delicacy of sentiment! In one of the despatches the cardinal

declares to the queen that the treasury is empty and that her majesty

has no more money. In the other he announces that he is about to

transport his prisoners to Melun, since Rueil seemed to him not

sufficiently secure. You can understand, dear friend, with what hope I

was inspired by that last letter. I placed myself in ambuscade with my

sixty men; I encircled the castle; the riding horses I entrusted to

Grimaud and I awaited your coming out, which I did not expect till

to-morrow, and I didn’t hope to free you without a skirmish. You are

free to-night, without fighting; so much the better! How did you manage

to escape that scoundrel Mazarin? You must have much reason to complain

of him.”

“Not very much,” said D’Artagnan.

“Really!”

“I might even say that we have some reason to praise him.”

“Impossible!”

“Yes, really; it is owing to him that we are free.”

“Owing to him?”

“Yes, he had us conducted into the orangery by Monsieur Bernouin, his

_valet-de-chambre_, and from there we followed him to visit the Comte

de la Fère. Then he offered us our liberty and we accepted it. He even

went so far as to show us the way out; he led us to the park wall,

which we climbed over without accident, and then we fell in with

Grimaud.”

“Well!” exclaimed Aramis, “this will reconcile me to him; but I wish he

were here that I might tell him that I did not believe him capable of

so noble an act.”

“My lord,” said D’Artagnan, no longer able to contain himself, “allow

me to introduce to you the Chevalier d’Herblay, who wishes—as you may

have heard—to offer his congratulations to your eminence.”

And he retired, discovering Mazarin, who was in great confusion, to the

astonished gaze of Aramis.

“Ho! ho!” exclaimed the latter, “the cardinal! a glorious prize!

Halloo! halloo! friends! to horse! to horse!”

Several horsemen ran quickly to him.

“Zounds!” cried Aramis, “I may have done some good; so, my lord, deign

to receive my most respectful homage! I will lay a wager that ’twas

that Saint Christopher, Porthos, who performed this feat! Apropos! I

forgot——” and he gave some orders in a low voice to one of the

horsemen.

“I think it will be wise to set off,” said D’Artagnan.

“Yes; but I am expecting some one, a friend of Athos.”

“A friend!” exclaimed the count.

“And here he comes, by Jupiter! galloping through the bushes.”

“The count! the count!” cried a young voice that made Athos start.

“Raoul! Raoul!” he ejaculated.

For one moment the young man forgot his habitual respect—he threw

himself on his father’s neck.

“Look, my lord cardinal,” said Aramis, “would it not have been a pity

to have separated men who love each other as we love? Gentlemen,” he

continued, addressing the cavaliers, who became more and more numerous

every instant; “gentlemen, encircle his eminence, that you may show him

the greater honor. He will, indeed give us the favor of his company;

you will, I hope, be grateful for it; Porthos, do not lose sight of his

eminence.”

Aramis then joined Athos and D’Artagnan, who were consulting together.

“Come,” said D’Artagnan, after a conference of five minutes’ duration,

“let us begin our journey.”

“Where are we to go?” asked Porthos.

“To your house, dear Porthos, at Pierrefonds; your fine château is

worthy of affording its princely hospitality to his eminence; it is,

likewise, well situated—neither too near Paris, nor too far from it; we

can establish a communication between it and the capital with great

facility. Come, my lord, you shall be treated like a prince, as you

are.”

“A fallen prince!” exclaimed Mazarin, piteously.

“The chances of war,” said Athos, “are many, but be assured we shall

take no improper advantage of them.”

“No, but we shall make use of them,” said D’Artagnan.

The rest of the night was employed by these cavaliers in traveling with

the wonderful rapidity of former days. Mazarin, still sombre and

pensive, permitted himself to be dragged along in this way; it looked a

race of phantoms. At dawn twelve leagues had been passed without

drawing rein; half the escort were exhausted and several horses fell

down.

“Horses, nowadays, are not what they were formerly,” observed Porthos;

“everything degenerates.”

“I have sent Grimaud to Dammartin,” said Aramis. “He is to bring us

five fresh horses—one for his eminence, four for us. We, at least, must

keep close to monseigneur; the rest of the start will rejoin us later.

Once beyond Saint Denis we shall have nothing to fear.”

Grimaud, in fact, brought back five horses. The nobleman to whom he

applied, being a friend of Porthos, was very ready, not to sell them,

as was proposed, but to lend them. Ten minutes later the escort stopped

at Ermenonville, but the four friends went on with well sustained

ardor, guarding Mazarin carefully. At noon they rode into the avenue of

Pierrefonds.

“Ah!” said Mousqueton, who had ridden by the side of D’Artagnan without

speaking a word on the journey, “you may think what you will, sir, but

I can breathe now for the first time since my departure from

Pierrefonds;” and he put his horse to a gallop to announce to the other

servants the arrival of Monsieur du Vallon and his friends.

“We are four of us,” said D’Artagnan; “we must relieve each other in

mounting guard over my lord and each of us must watch three hours at a

time. Athos is going to examine the castle, which it will be necessary

to render impregnable in case of siege; Porthos will see to the

provisions and Aramis to the troops of the garrison. That is to say,

Athos will be chief engineer, Porthos purveyor-in-general, and Aramis

governor of the fortress.”

Meanwhile, they gave up to Mazarin the handsomest room in the château.

“Gentlemen,” he said, when he was in his room, “you do not expect, I

presume, to keep me here a long time _incognito?_”

“No, my lord,” replied the Gascon; “on the contrary, we think of

announcing very soon that we have you here.”

“Then you will be besieged.”

“We expect it.”

“And what shall you do?”

“Defend ourselves. Were the late Cardinal Richelieu alive he would tell

you a certain story of the Bastion Saint Gervais, which we four, with

our four lackeys and twelve dead men, held out against a whole army.”

“Such feats, sir, are done once—and never repeated.”

“However, nowadays there’s no need of so much heroism. To-morrow the

army of Paris will be summoned, the day after it will be here! The

field of battle, instead, therefore, of being at Saint Denis or at

Charenton, will be near Compiègne or Villars-Cotterets.”

“The prince will vanquish you, as he has always done.”

“’Tis possible; my lord; but before an engagement ensues we shall move

your eminence to _another_ castle belonging to our friend Du Vallon,

who has _three_. We will not expose your eminence to the chances of

war.”

“Come,” answered Mazarin, “I see it will be necessary for me to

capitulate.”

“Before a siege?”

“Yes; the conditions will be better than afterward.”

“Ah, my lord! as to conditions, you would soon see how moderate and

reasonable we are!”

“Come, now, what are your conditions?”

“Rest yourself first, my lord, and we—we will reflect.”

“I do not need rest, gentlemen; I need to know whether I am among

enemies or friends.”

“Friends, my lord! friends!”

“Well, then, tell me at once what you want, that I may see if any

arrangement be possible. Speak, Comte de la Fère!”

“My lord,” replied Athos, “for myself I have nothing to demand. For

France, were I to specify my wishes, I should have too much. I beg you

to excuse me and propose to the chevalier.”

And Athos, bowing, retired and remained leaning against the

mantelpiece, a spectator of the scene.

“Speak, then, chevalier!” said the cardinal. “What do you want? Nothing

ambiguous, if you please. Be clear, short and precise.”

“As for me,” replied Aramis, “I have in my pocket the very programme of

the conditions which the deputation—of which I formed one—went

yesterday to Saint Germain to impose on you. Let us consider first the

ancient rights. The demands in that programme _must_ be granted.”

“We were almost agreed on those,” replied Mazarin; “let us pass on to

private and personal stipulations.”

“You suppose, then, that there _are_ some?” said Aramis, smiling.

“I do not suppose that you will all be quite so disinterested as

Monsieur de la Fère,” replied the cardinal, bowing to Athos.

“My lord, you are right, and I am glad to see that you do justice to

the count at last. The count has a mind above vulgar desires and

earthly passions. He is a proud soul—he is a man by himself! You are

right—he is worth us all, and we avow it to you!”

“Aramis,” said Athos, “are you jesting?”

“No, no, dear friend; I state only what we all know. You are right; it

is not you alone this matter concerns, but my lord and his unworthy

servant, myself.”

“Well, then, what do you require besides the general conditions before

recited?”

“I require, my lord, that Normandy should be given to Madame de

Longueville, with five hundred thousand francs and full absolution. I

require that his majesty should deign to be godfather to the child she

has just borne; and that my lord, after having been present at the

christening, should go to proffer his homage to our Holy Father the

Pope.”

“That is, you wish me to lay aside my ministerial functions, to quit

France and be an exile.”

“I wish his eminence to become pope on the first opportunity, allowing

me then the right of demanding full indulgences for myself and my

friends.”

Mazarin made a grimace which was quite indescribable, and then turned

to D’Artagnan.

“And you, sir?” he said.

“I, my lord,” answered the Gascon, “I differ from Monsieur d’Herblay

entirely as to the last point, though I agree with him on the first.

Far from wishing my lord to quit Paris, I hope he will stay there and

continue to be prime minister, as he is a great statesman. I shall try

also to help him to down the Fronde, but on one condition—that he

sometimes remembers the king’s faithful servants and gives the first

vacant company of musketeers to a man that I could name. And you,

Monsieur du Vallon——”

“Yes, you, sir! Speak, if you please,” said Mazarin.

“As for me,” answered Porthos, “I wish my lord cardinal, in order to do

honor to my house, which gives him an asylum, would in remembrance of

this adventure erect my estate into a barony, with a promise to confer

that order on one of my particular friends, whenever his majesty next

creates peers.”

“You know, sir, that before receiving the order one must submit

proofs.”

“My friends will submit them. Besides, should it be necessary,

monseigneur will show him how that formality may be avoided.”

Mazarin bit his lips; the blow was direct and he replied rather dryly:

“All this appears to me to be ill conceived, disjointed, gentlemen; for

if I satisfy some I shall displease others. If I stay in Paris I cannot

go to Rome; if I became pope I could not continue to be prime minister;

and it is only by continuing prime minister that I can make Monsieur

d’Artagnan a captain and Monsieur du Vallon a baron.”

“True,” said Aramis, “so, as I am in a minority, I withdraw my

proposition, so far as it relates to the voyage to Rome and

monseigneur’s resignation.”

“I am to remain minister, then?” said Mazarin.

“You remain minister; that is understood,” said D’Artagnan; “France

needs you.”

“And I desist from my pretensions,” said Aramis. “His eminence will

continue to be prime minister and her majesty’s favorite, if he will

grant to me and my friends what we demand for France and for

ourselves.”

“Occupy yourselves with your own affairs, gentlemen, and let France

settle matters as she will with me,” resumed Mazarin.

“Ho! ho!” replied Aramis. “The Frondeurs will have a treaty and your

eminence must sign it before us, promising at the same time to obtain

the queen’s consent to it.”

“I can answer only for myself,” said Mazarin. “I cannot answer for the

queen. Suppose her majesty refuses?”

“Oh!” said D’Artagnan, “monseigneur knows very well that her majesty

refuses him nothing.”

“Here, monseigneur,” said Aramis, “is the treaty proposed by the

deputation of Frondeurs. Will your eminence please read and examine?”

“I am acquainted with it.”

“Sign it, then.”

“Reflect, gentlemen, that a signature given under circumstances like

the present might be regarded as extorted by violence.”

“Monseigneur will be at hand to testify that it was freely given.”

“Suppose I refuse?”

“Then,” said D’Artagnan, “your eminence must expect the consequences of

a refusal.”

“Would you dare to touch a cardinal?”

“You have dared, my lord, to imprison her majesty’s musketeers.”

“The queen will revenge me, gentlemen.”

“I do not think so, although inclination might lead her to do so, but

we shall take your eminence to Paris, and the Parisians will defend

us.”

“How uneasy they must be at this moment at Rueil and Saint Germain,”

said Aramis. “How they must be asking, ‘Where is the cardinal?’ ‘What

has become of the minister?’ ‘Where has the favorite gone?’ How they

must be looking for monseigneur in all corners! What comments must be

made; and if the Fronde knows that monseigneur has disappeared, how the

Fronde must triumph!”

“It is frightful,” murmured Mazarin.

“Sign the treaty, then, monseigneur,” said Aramis.

“Suppose the queen should refuse to ratify it?”

“Ah! nonsense!” cried D’Artagnan, “I can manage so that her majesty

will receive me well; I know an excellent method.”

“What?”

“I shall take her majesty the letter in which you tell her that the

finances are exhausted.”

“And then?” asked Mazarin, turning pale.

“When I see her majesty embarrassed, I shall conduct her to Rueil, make

her enter the orangery and show her a certain spring which turns a

box.”

“Enough, sir,” muttered the cardinal, “you have said enough; where is

the treaty?”

“Here it is,” replied Aramis. “Sign, my lord,” and he gave him a pen.

Mazarin arose, walked some moments, thoughtful, but not dejected.

“And when I have signed,” he said, “what is to be my guarantee?”

“My word of honor, sir,” said Athos.

Mazarin started, turned toward the Comte de la Fère, and looking for an

instant at that grand and honest countenance, took the pen.

“It is sufficient, count,” he said, and signed the treaty.

“And now, Monsieur d’Artagnan,” he said, “prepare to set off for Saint

Germain and take a letter from me to the queen.”